2 out of 4 USB ports not working and a graphics problem after Windows installation Dell Precision M4600

[Pardeep01]

Hi everyone.

I bought a second-hand Dell Precision M4600 which contained Windows 10 64-bit and 4 USB ports, 2 of them were USB 2.0 and the other two were 3.0. I wanted to revert to Windows 7 because I'm really familiar with it and it's most probably compatible with any software and game, and another reason being since Windows 10 had just been release, which means it contained a lot of bugs. So, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, everything's fine, except I have 2 major problems,

1: The 2 USB 3.0 ports stopped working at all.
2: When I was on Windows 10, I opened DXDiag and went to the "Display" tab, I saw the approximate total memory was more than 6000MB. I think that was my Intel HD Graphics and nVidia Quadro 1000M (2GB) GPU memory combined. But after installing Windows, I see the approximate total memory is more than 1500MB and less than 2000MB. How do I resolve this issue?

A picture that may help with the USB issue:

Thanks.

-Pardeep

 

[bambiboom]

Hi everyone.

I bought a second-hand Dell Precision M4600 which contained Windows 10 64-bit and 4 USB ports, 2 of them were USB 2.0 and the other two were 3.0. I wanted to revert to Windows 7 because I'm really familiar with it and it's most probably compatible with any software and game, and another reason being since Windows 10 had just been release, which means it contained a lot of bugs. So, I installed Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit, everything's fine, except I have 2 major problems,

1: The 2 USB 3.0 ports stopped working at all.
2: When I was on Windows 10, I opened DXDiag and went to the "Display" tab, I saw the approximate total memory was more than 6000MB. I think that was my Intel HD Graphics and nVidia Quadro 1000M (2GB) GPU memory combined. But after installing Windows, I see the approximate total memory is more than 1500MB and less than 2000MB. How do I resolve this issue?

A picture that may help with the USB issue:

Thanks.

-Pardeep

Pardeep,

My wild guess is that because the problem began after reverting from Window 10 to Windows7, the problem may be that there is some conflict with one or more of the USB Host Controller drivers. One key might be the age of the Win 7 Ultimate if made before USB 3.0. - it may not automatically update the drivers until the devices are detected by connection. You could try device install by instructing the system to detect new devices and if there are no suggestions, manually add the USB 3.0 controller and load drivers from Dell Support. I have an older copy of Win 7 Ultimate 64 - 2011 I think- on a 2008 Precision T5400- and if I loaded this onto my 2015 HP z420, I would expect to possibly have to load the USB 3.0 drivers from HP. At Dell.com Support you can probably get the 3.0 controller drivers and possibly relevant chipset firmware. One other tactic is that since the M4600 arrived new with Win 7, send Dell the service tag and serial number and they will send you a reinstallation disk of the original software supplied without charge. I did this with a Precision T5500 I upgraded and as if it were magic, Win 7 Pro 64, the Firewire drivers and PERC 6/i RAID controller software appeared in the mailbox. Use a disk cleaner that wipes/formats the drive a couple of times. You then activate using the COA sticker on the M4800.

I think with the memory allocation, there may be some conflict between the Intel HD and the Quadro adapter. You might try disabling the IG in BIOS so the assigned portion of system memory is not variably displayed as display adapter memory, that is all the RAM is system RAM.

Yes, fussy. As I intend to never use Windows 10, I've not been paying a lot of attention to the noticeable number of problems mentioned when reverting back to Window7, especially when it's a reversion from the Win 7 to Win 10 upgrade. The "free" upgrade seems costly for some of those changing their minds about Win 10.

I've been thinking of having an M4800 or M6800 for my second system instead of the T5500. Despite these problems, do you recommend the M4800 or mobile Precision in general?

Cheers,

BambiBoom

1. HP z420 (2015) > Xeon E5-1660 v2 six-core @ 3.7 / 4.0GHz > 32GB DDR3 ECC 1866 RAM > Quadro K4200 (4GB) > Intel 730 480GB (9SSDSC2BP480G4R5) > Western Digital Black WD1003FZEX 1TB> M-Audio 192 sound card > 600W PSU> Logitech z2300 > Linksys AE3000 USB WiFi > 2X Dell Ultrasharp U2715H (2560 X 1440) > Windows 7 Professional 64 >
[ Passmark Rating = 5064 > CPU= 13989 / 2D= 819 / 3D= 4596 / Mem= 2772 / Disk= 4555] [Cinebench R15 > CPU = 1014 OpenGL= 126.59 FPS] 7.8.15

Pending upgrade: HP /LSI 9212-4i PCIe SAS /SATA HBA RAID controller, 2X Seagate Constellation ES.3 1TB (RAID 1)

2. Dell Precision T5500 (2011) > Xeon X5680 six -core @ 3.33 / 3.6GHz, 24GB DDR3 ECC 1333 > Quadro K2200 (4GB ) > Samsung 840 250GB / WD RE4 Enterprise 1TB > M-Audio 192 sound card 875W PSU > Logitech z313> Linksys WMP600N PCI WiFi > Windows 7 Professional 64> HP 2711x (1920 X 1080)
[ Passmark system rating = 3490 / CPU = 9178 / 2D= 685 / 3D= 3566 / Mem= 1865 / Disk= 2122] [Cinebench 15 > CPU = 772 OpenGL= 99.72 FPS] 7.8.15

Network: Netgear GS108-400NAS Gigabit Ethernet

 

[Pardeep01]

All right, so I installed the USB 3.0 Host Controller drivers for my specific system from the Dell Support website and it worked! My USB ports are working perfectly. The problem still persists with the graphics problem. I'll see what I can do. Thank you very much for your help.

I would say go for M4800, it has a better workstation GPU than most other notebooks, including mine, and the specs and warranty given are great. This is my opinion.